Overall:
Rust is by far one of the most fun games I have ever experienced in all of my gaming career. This game will not fail to get your adrenaline pumping when combat and pvp goes down to the wire where each decision could determine whether you go back to base full of loot or respawn left with nothing. This game has an incredibly fun pvp system with a challenging learning curve that still keeps me coming back to play week by week.

Pros:
Enjoyable pvp at all stages of the game.

Very good replayability.

Skin market is profitable

Skins are given away from twitch drops making some good ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ for all players with twitch.

Relevant to semi-relevant updates each month

Different ways to play and enjoy the game

Pros Breakdown:
Enjoyable pvp essentially is saying that if you are primitive on wipe day or throughout the wipe the primitive pvp is still very enjoyable (any stage of the game could be fun). The progression is simple. (Primitive → Tier 1 gear → Tier 2 gear → Tier 2.5 gear → Tier 3 gear) Each level of progression has its own set of armor and weapons that determine which stage of the game that you are in. In each stage a player can definitely enjoy their time. Tier 3 gear being by far the strongest gear in the game. Tier 2 gear being a very solid and dependable place to be in the game where it can compete with Tier 3 while also being significantly better than Tier 1. Tier 1 gear being significantly better than Primitive gear but in the grand scheme of things quite weak and lastly Primitive gear which is obtainable right off of spawn being the lowest level of weapons and equipment in the game. Each stage can be quite fun to play in and making a play to progress to the next tier will never not feel rewarding.
Rust wipes which essentially erase all the progress you just got can happen weekly, bi-weekly or monthly allowing players to choose which type of wipe they would like to play on. When a server wipes the map changes and all bases and loot on the map will reset. The only thing players keep are the blueprints they obtained in the previous wipe. If you research something and obtain its blueprint that item becomes craftable. This means that what could be each week a brand new experience is just waiting to happen.
A new set of skins are released every Thursday. These skins are always in the “limited” shop. Skins in the limited shop are tradable and marketable allowing for playing to take chances on the market on whether that skin will make them profit. I myself have engaged in this process and made a decent amount of money from doing so.
If you are the type of player who does not like to spend money on cosmetic items Rust will frequently engage in twitch drops where a player would link their steam and twitch profile to receive skins as a reward. To receive skins the player would have to watch a specific person stream for a specific amount of time. These skins are not tradable or marketable making them limited to the time that their drop takes place.
On the first Thursday of each month Rust will have an update. This update can range from new monuments, weapons, game systems (electricity, cars, boats etc.) or even dlc. This means that the game will frequently undergo changes making putting time into this game feel much better knowing that the developers still put effort each month into the game. These updates can also be smaller QOL changes however, so not each month will be a larger update.
You can play the game to pvp other players as well as raid other players. You can play the game to roleplay with other players or you can play the game because you like base building or progression. The point is that there are many different ways to play and enjoy the game and each server can provide a different experience. Some servers are combat servers where there can be Battle Royale, Gun Game, Free For All or even some Team combat game modes.

Cons:
40$ price

Harsh learning curve

Toxic community

A certain level of commitment is required

Cons Breakdown:
40$ for a game is not necessarily a light purchase. When I had bought the game myself a few years back the game was only 20$ but the price has increased since back then.
This game is an incredibly hard game to learn. Having to learn monument layouts, map generation, region knowledge (No hemp in snow/desert, can't dry off in snow region etc.) gun sprays and so much more makes this game a challenge for new players to get the hang of especially without someone to teach them the game. I have seen many players quit the game because it was too challenging for them to learn the game, showing that it is definitely something to be aware of when buying this game.
The community is definitely toxic. No two ways about that one. This community is familiar with “edgy” humor of racism and homophobia. You can certainly avoid this by censoring in-game signs and muting the chat but it is a problem I wish game developers would try more to fix. The community of this game is also very harsh to new players. Trusting people in Rust is something new players normally do. Rust is not a game where you can easily trust other players though. Experienced players will definitely leave new players out to dry when it comes to trying to learn how to play the game.
Probably the biggest make or break for this game is commitment. In this game your base will decay and break apart to literally nothing if you do not maintain upkeep in your tool cupboard. The upkeep of your base scales with the size of it making it manageable for players that don’t have all the time in the world to play as long as they play in a smaller base. The problem with this is the smaller the base the easier that base is to raid. A player also has to make a choice on how much they will play and select the server that best fits them. A monthly server might help someone who can’t play the game all that frequently. This for me besides burnout is usually the reason I stop playing. When school and work start taking up more time I normally stop playing Rust until I have more time on my hands that I can put into the game.

Overall:
This game is very fun to play and I definitely recommend it for everyone to try.

Note*
Not every pro and con was mentioned in this review, just what I felt was the most important ones to mention.